Mercedes dominates Barcelona test, putting rivals on notice
Mercedes just sent a clear message to everyone in Formula 1. Their performance in Barcelona was absolutely stunning – and the scariest part for their rivals? The team says they weren’t even running an optimized setup yet.
The Silver Arrows were clearly the fastest team on track, and their new power unit ran without a hitch for all three days.
Andrew Shovlin, who runs Mercedes’ trackside engineering, couldn’t hide his excitement after the test wrapped up.
“The reliability was truly impressive,” he said. “The car has completely new systems, and everything worked fantastically. We actually finished a day early because the car let us complete our planned program each day without problems.”
These new F1 cars present huge challenges for teams, with brand new technical regulations forcing everyone back to the drawing board.
“There are always some issues with new power units and electronics. And of course, the chassis rules are completely different now,” Shovlin explained. “But in all the areas that weren’t perfect at first, we’ve made real progress. That’s very encouraging.”
The team kept getting faster throughout the test.
“That’s great, but honestly, I find the reliability simply fantastic. It’s a huge credit to all the hard work from our people in Brixworth and Brackley who made this happen.”
## More speed to come
Mercedes hit every target they set for Spain. Now they’re focused on the next test in Bahrain.
“In Bahrain we’ll concentrate more on improving the setup and figuring out how to get the car into the right performance window,” Shovlin said.
The cold weather in Barcelona limited what teams could learn about true performance.
“Bahrain is a much better place to see if the car performs well at the right temperatures, both for chassis performance and how all the systems work,” he added. “Hopefully that final test will be more about race prep, qualifying practice, and all the situations you face during a race weekend.”
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